Author
Topic: Gadget's DES 8/1 Stamford build (Read 2996 times)

I decide to start a thread on my build. Originally I was going to build a 6/1 with an ST5 gen head. After talking with Gary at D.E.S. I went with an 8/1 and a Stamford clone generator. It seems like there is allot of work to get the ST generators working good and I thought it would be best to just go with a turn key head that has know clean power. Its much more $ but its worth it for me so I can focus on getting the motor dialed in.

Something to consider if your going to order a kit on a pallet, make sure you have a forklift to unload or pay for a shipping truck with a lift gate. There is no way to unload the pallet and lift out by hand. The short block with the wheels on and the gen head are way to heavy. The gen I got weighs 200lbs.

Mine came as a short block in a crate on a pellet with all the parts boxed up

After I removed the pallet sides I took off the flywheels. I used a bolt and nut to put pressure on the keys to remove them. They where pretty tight so I gave them a gentle shake while they where under pressure with an air hammer. It took 4 consecutive length bolts to get them loose enough. After I got the keys out, I scrapped the paint off the shaft and gave it a light sand with emery cloth and oil till they where clean before removing the wheels. One flywheel came off easy the other did not. I used a bottle jack carefully placed against a strong part of the case(under light pressure) while taping with a rubber mallet on the opposite side. It took about 20 mins to get the second flywheel off. I had a second person helping me.

So far this clone is looking pretty good for a listeroid. I'm going to start stripping the out paint off and taking it completely apart

I'm going to tear it down and clean it up here at work. I'm a mechanic and can work on it when I'm not busy. I will assemble it at home. I took the genhead home to wait for the motor to be finished. This stamford clone looks very well made so far. Pulley looks to have some good weight to it. Its rated continues duty @8.8kw. Its over kill for my motor and should give many years of good service

This will be a slow going build till I get caught up on another project.

The bolt trick did work well but it does damage the bolts as you get towards the end of the threads. Small price to pay I guess. Working as a mechanic you get use to improvising.

The motor stripped down pretty easily. I also started stripping the paint with some left over adhesive remover I had. I also started scrapping the inside. I hope to have it hot tanked soon. I was surprised at how well the casting is so far. I was expecting a couple of holes and such.

They where kind enough to leave me with plenty of sand inside the case, allot more then I expected.

I noticed the bottom casting have some over hang. I'll take the grinder to the excess before I hot tank. It looks like it is designed to have the 4 corners lower then the sides

I guess the stories of the Rajkot machines that come with horrors like pockets of sand or funny machined-finish angles are the stories that get remembered and revisited. Averages suggest there will be goodies as well I guess

FWIW when I had a stubborn key to remove I had two tapered cold-chisels in behind it - smacking them in like wedges & eventually it yielded

I 'hot tanked' my CS in a 205L - 40 gallon - oil drum, I made up a stand and the lit a fire beneath it, with 4 kilos of caustic soda it took 2 hours to come to the boil, after 30 minuet simmering I left it overnight.

I had to kick the whole thing over to get the crankcase out, SWMBO was not impressed with the dead grass, it was lovely and clean.

I am hopeful its a good one. Casting does look good so maybe I got lucky with the machine work too.

I was planning on using one of the steel oil drums at work for hot tanking. They are epoxy lined and should hold up to the lye. I am going to lower the case in using an engine hoist and add just enough water to cover it a couple of inches. I'm guess it will be about 25-30 gallons of water. I'm thinking maybe 1 lb of lye?? I have an 1,000 watt emersion heater that I'm going to heat the solution with. I'm guessing it will take many hours to warm up. Is it common to bring it to boil? I'm planning on removing 99% of the paint and outer white putty before I tank it. I hope the solution can take off the white gunk on the inside. I will then pressure wash it and then paint the inside with the copper winding paint and high temp engine enamel for the outside.

Why bother taking off any paint first. The lye should do that and save you the effort. That is the idea after all. When I was reconditioning forecourt fuel bowsers, i cut the top off a m³ IBC added about 600 Lt water and dumped in 2 bags of caustic flakes. Never ever had to heat it in the 10 plus years that I used it. All I did was scrape the paint sludge out the bottom and add a bag of coustic every year or so. Takes longer minus the heater, but still only a few days to strip a panel down to bare metal

Good to have that confirmed, Dax. A few days wait is not such a big deal, and allows the use of plastic drums or trash cans for those not needing speed. It might also make flywheel soak practical; I can imagine a ring of cinder blocks lined with heavy plastic sheeting.

I've read nothing but praise and seen good photo good results for the lye method.

After having a week off work I was looking forward to getting back to this build. As luck would have it, I had some spare time at work today. I am not completely done with removing all the paint but after reading some suggestions, I'm going to let the caustic soda take it off.

I'm going to try cold soak first for a couple of days and see what happens. It barely fit!